


The Hands That Made Us

by bobertsmallismydad



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 00:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6262507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobertsmallismydad/pseuds/bobertsmallismydad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every hero has an origin story, Tony and Steve decide to share theirs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hands That Made Us

There were many things that Steve thought that he would see when he came out of his room for the first time that day but Tony Stark drinking all by himself was not what he had in mind. Of course Steve had seen Tony drinking before but usually someone had been drinking with him. Natasha liked to have drinking contests between Tony and herself while Bruce would just sit and talk with the drinking genius. Steve smiled to himself as he remembered one night that Tony and Bruce had been arguing about something having to do with an experiment they were doing. Bruce had gotten fed up with Tony and had drunk an entire bottle of whiskey before hulking out and leaping from the tower window, thankfully not injuring anybody.

“Having fun without me?” Steve asks as he goes to the nearby pantry to grab a snack. Tony looks up and Steve notices the dark circles under his eyes. Tony smirks his usual smirk and holds up his glass in a sloppy salute.

“You want some?” Tony’s words are slurred somewhat. Steve chuckles as he starts to eat a granola bar he had found.

“It’d be like wasting it, can’t get drunk remember?” Steve jokes as he sits down across from Tony at the table.

Tony lets out a sigh and chuckles. “Then do it for the taste,” he says as he holds out another glass to Steve. Had he been expecting a drinking partner? Steve raises an eyebrow and says, “Why would I drink whiskey for the taste?” He takes the glass anyway and Tony shakily pours some of the drink from the nearby bottle. Steve finishes his granola bar before taking a sip from the glass. He sighs and smiles at the genius.

“Okay, that’s pretty good,” Steve admits. Tony fake cheers and pours more into Steve’s glass. For a while they drank in silence.

Tony was the first to break the silence. “Why’ve you been in your room all day?” he asks. Steve shrugs and takes another sip of his drink.

“Sometimes I just like to be by myself, you know. Being around people all the time can get pretty tiring.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Tony grumbles before he swallows the rest of his drink, “When you have meetings with people all day and they keep prodding you with questions sometimes you just want to be left alone.”

“Right!” Steve exclaims, startling Tony. They look at each other for a moment then start to laugh.

“Tony, why were you drinking by yourself?” Steve asks softly. Tony looks at him with tired eyes and a frown.

“I couldn’t sleep, I was . . . thinking about someone I used to know.” Tony rubs a hand against his face and sighs. “God, I can’t believe I’m gonna tell you this,” Tony muses, “I was kidnapped in Afghanistan, this was before I was Ironman, and they kept me in this cave. They had fired a missile and shrapnel got into my chest. This man named Yinsen, who was held in the cave too, saved me by hooking up a car battery to my chest.”

“Your first arc reactor,” Steve says, entranced. Tony stops and looks at Steve with something foreign in his eyes. Steve motions for him to keep going as he pours more whiskey into his own glass.

“Well, Yinsen was the only one who helped me get out. He was . . . he was killed when I escaped,” Tony trails off.

“And you think it’s your fault?” Steve asks. Tony opens his mouth as if to say something but closes it.

“It’s not your fault, Tony.”

“How do you know that?” Tony argues, his voice rising out of anger. Steve stays calm.

“Back before I was Captain America I was a runt of a kid. Just a skinny, asthmatic kid that tried to lie his way into the military. The last time I tried to lie this German scientist, Abraham Erskine, who worked for the military, told me that I could actually help the military’s cause. He was the one who turned me into Captain America. This assassin somehow got into the room and shot him right in front of me . . . and he died. And I thought that it was my fault.”

“How could you think that?” Tony asks out of nowhere.

“Because I thought that he died because he was working on, well, me,” Steve says. Steve looks at Tony and laughs to himself.

“What?” Tony asks.

“I just think it’s kind of funny how we both had people who helped us become what we are today,” Steve says as he smiles brightly at the genius across from him. Tony looks at Steve as if he was looking both at and through him.

“Yeah, funny,” Tony jokes.

Steve just smiles and finishes off his drink. He takes the half empty bottle and puts it back in the kitchen. When he comes back to the table Tony has finished off his own glass.

“Come on, you need some sleep,” Steve murmurs as he gently hauls Tony out of his chair. He wraps an arm around Tony’s waist and slings Tony’s arm over his own shoulder to steady him.

“Come on, you have to help me, Tony. Or I’ll have to carry you bridal style,” Steve warns and Tony starts to help. Slowly, but surely, Steve gets Tony to his own room and opens up the door.

“You can make it to your own bed, right?” Steve muses as Tony escapes from his grip.

“Yeah, I got it,” Tony slurs. He turns around and smiles a dopey grin at Steve.

“Thanks, Steve, for what you said. I needed it,” Tony mutters. Then he makes his way over to his bed and flops down face first. Steve chuckles and takes one last look at the passed out genius.

“You’re welcome,” he murmurs and silently closes the door.


End file.
